The Harris Building Reviews

My wife and I had our wedding ceremony and reception at the Harris Building in May of 2023. The venue was beautiful and the staff was a huge help. We planned our wedding from California and did not see the venue until the day before our wedding. It exceeded our expectations, as did the wonderful people that worked with us. From keeping our wedding party on task during rehearsal, to taking care of things behind the scenes on the wedding day, the staff at the Harris Building ensured our day was special.

The Harris Building venue itself is absolutely gorgeous and big enough to host a ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception in the same space. We not only fell in love with the elegant, yet warm space, but the staff, specifically Kelsi Gaunt, was absolutely INCREDIBLE. Planning a wedding during COVID-19 wasn't ideal, but Kelsi worked with us every step of the way and went above and beyond to make sure that our day was absolutely perfect.

Not only was the Harris Building a gorgeous place for our big day, the staff is nothing short of incredible. Kelsi was SO responsive with our tons of questions and put any concern we had to rest. The staff the day of could not have been more helpful. Our day was perfect for us. I seriously had the best time of my life and a lot of that was thanks to The Harris Building. I cannot recommend them enough.

We met with Kelsi who is so sweet and really cares about her couples. She gave us a great walk through both virtual and in person!

Kelsi at the Harris Building was the top vendor we worked with! She saved my daughter's wedding so many times. She always finds a way to make it work, handled problems we encountered with other vendors, even stepped in to take over for our wedding planner. She is nothing short of amazing! Her setup on the day of your wedding is gorgeous too! I cannot recommend her enough!

I had my intimate ceremony and dinner here this past weekend and it was just beautiful! From the moment we toured the venue, we knew that we had to book it for our wedding, and the entire process from start to finish was really amazing! The staff is so friendly and quick to respond to emails/phone calls! We worked closely with Kelsi for all of our event planning and cannot say enough positive things about her! For one, she is super sweet and very genuine! My husband and I felt very comfortable working with her and knew that our special day was in good hands. While we planned a wedding during a global pandemic, The Harris Building truly could not have handled it any better; they were always understanding, supportive, and provided so much help/advice! If you are looking for a venue that is breathtaking, look no further! We are so happy that we had our wedding at the Harris Building!

We honestly cannot say enough good things about our experience working with the Harris from the very beginning. We first saw the Harris in December 2019 before we had even gotten engaged, and we knew right away that we wanted to have our wedding there.

We got engaged the week before COVID shut down the country. We wanted our parents to see the venue before we put down a deposit, so Kelsi immediately rescheduled a tour with us in anticipation of the shutdown for our original tour date. The day after we saw the Harris with our parents, the shutdown was announced. When someone else started thinking of rescheduling their wedding for our desired date, Kelsi reached out to us immediately with our options, and we chose March 6, 2021 instead.

As we began to plan our wedding during COVID, we never imagined that a year later our wedding would be a "COVID wedding", but as time continued it was clear that the wedding we had imagined would not be possible. Kelsi and her team were thrown into the unknown of COVID with the rest of us, but she handled it with such poise and grace. With every announcement, Kelsi kept us up-to-date with what it meant for our wedding. Her optimism is what got us through the most difficult times of planning. Every e-mail, phone call or FaceTime that we had with Kelsi always left us in with a more positive outlook. She gave us hope during a time that it was so difficult to find it.

Kelsi was always prompt with her communication and provided us with multiple vendor requests when asked. She did not push their rental packages on us, and she always encouraged us to follow our financial needs. She knew our vision very well and she worked with my husband to create a unique set up with the furniture, and she even went out of her way to find decor that was in our colors and to find an arch that we had wanted as well-- all without being asked! She truly went above and beyond to make our vision come to life.

When COVID still hadn't gone away, as we got closer to our date Kelsi contacted us in advance to reserve a backup date and went through all of our options with us. She never pressured us in any direction and reminded us always that we needed to do what was best for us-- even if that meant that she would lose our business. Her flexibility put us more at ease knowing that we did not have anything to lose with our decision, and we ultimately decided to still have with our ceremony at the Harris, but we couldn't have our true reception due to numbers restrictions. Kelsi still allowed us to have our first dance, the father-daughter and mother-son dances along with cake cutting to still give us the best experience possible. When we had hair and makeup stylists back out, Kelsi let us come into the Harris early to access the bridal suite. Right before walking down the aisle, when we realized that my recently deceased grandmother's necklace was too small, Kelsi immediately took off her own necklace to try to use as a new chain, but we couldn't get the pendant off the original. Thinking on her feet, she showed me how to make it into a bracelet instead!

Kelsi did everything in her power to make our wedding the best day possible for us. With every imperfection that unfolded, she came up with a solution and truly made our day magical. In the moment, it did not feel like a COVID wedding at all. The few guests that we were allowed all said the same thing and they were blown away at the beauty of the Harris. The Harris is an A+ experience!

I am so glad I got married at The Harris Building!
They truly make wedding planning easy with several built in services and preferred vendors. Their staff is very helpful and quick to respond to emails. We got several compliments from guests on how well run our wedding was and how friendly the staff was. The Harris Building is a beautiful venue and we couldn't have asked for a better wedding. Thank you!

We first met Kelsi and Kristen as we were originally supposed to have our wedding at the Harris Building in downtown Grand Rapids. The wedding was already complex to begin with – we (the bride and groom) are based on the West Coast with family and friends from Michigan, all over the country and the world. Due to Covid, we had to move our dates out and to another location in South Haven. But they still worked with us to plan our wedding and by the end of the wedding, we were extremely glad and grateful Kelsi and Kristen were still leading the charge as our planners.

There were many intricacies to our wedding – we required social distancing measures to ensure the attendees were safe and comfortable; we had multiple themes (Winter for the dinner and Indian for the cocktail hour) which required detailed attention to the decorations; we had tents set up for the ceremony and dinner as there was a potential for rain; we needed live streaming (both on Zoom and Youtube) for family and friends near and far who couldn’t travel. All weddings will have things go wrong – some small, some large. But Kelsi and Kristen were the right team to manage and drive the production in the background to coordinate all the vendors and activities and ensure everything ran smoothly, while troubleshooting the things that didn’t with urgency. They were truly on top of it and as the bride and groom for the wedding, they shielded us and the rest of the family from the general chaos to ensure we had an amazing time. By the end of the night, we developed a deep sense of respect and trust for these two.

Three examples come to mind on how they stood out and went out of their way: (1) They managed special requests with a smile – the groom had arranged for a special cake and champagne to be delivered to the bride’s suite as a surprise and Kelsi/Kristen delivered to make it a special moment for the ladies; (2) They managed a troublesome vendor – we had an inconsiderate and rude cake vendor who almost didn’t show up to the wedding and when they did, they delivered poor quality cake, and we didn’t hear about it as Kelsi/Kristen managed it; (3) They managed a fluid situation that had a high probability of risk and errors – the live streaming went down during the speeches and we got a text from a guest and we quickly forwarded that to Kelsi who worked to get it up and running in just a few minutes.

These were just a few of the many examples. Our wedding was as intricate and complicated as it got, especially with the pandemic, fickle weather and a troublesome cake vendor, but we can’t overstate how amazing this duo was. We keep hearing that this had been one of the best weddings people have ever been to and it turned out to be truly special for everyone. It certainly takes a village and there were many people involved in making this a memorable weekend, but Kelsi and Kristen were truly outstanding and the lynchpins to success.

Stop looking for another venue.
I cannot say enough praise for the Harris Building/the team there. Karri was so responsive and helpful on literally every request I had. She came in on a Sunday so my husband could see the venue after we booked. We walked into our rehearsal and Karri and her team were literally ON THE FLOOR attaching my welcome sign to a foam board so it looked better than what I had originally delivered to them. I had very specific requests for music and timing during our ceremony, they figured it out with ease and it was literally perfect. The staff was AWESOME. We had a medical emergency during our reception which they handled with ease and professionalism. They were so kind and accommodating to all of us. Finally, the space is to die for. We took pictures in the basement and they were the best pictures of all that my photographer got - gorgeous light in a beautiful setting. The set-up of the venue is perfect. I've been to so many weddings where you're either traveling to one setting to another, or there's a long wait between events, and it really drags the whole day down. Our guests went seamlessly from one spot to the next. I have no complaints, only excessive gratitude for the team at the Harris.

I will continue to recommend and talk about the Harris Building all day long!

Let me preface this review by saying that while I was in no way a crazy bridezilla, (all and all pretty relaxed actually!) but I am a little bit picky when it comes to this stuff. Not only have I worked in the banquet/events/wedding industry, but my husband and I both work in the design world in New York City so we care a lot about the aesthetics of the day and we really wanted a fun but traditional formal event, so I hope that lets you know how much this review means to me!

The entire process of planning our wedding was completely seamless, Karri and team made it so easy for me and we truly so accommodating and a joy to work with! We met at KCAD in downtown Grand Rapids so it was really important for us to have a Grand Rapids wedding, that being said, planning the wedding from so far away, I didn't have any time to really come back and forth throughout the process. This was one of the reasons that we were attracted to the idea of all the accommodations in one that the Harris Building could offer us. They went above and beyond video chatting with me and sending me lots and lots of photos and emails making me feel comfortable about how everything thing would look and what we would be able to do. They even helped me source unique centerpiece for our tables that I really couldn't have found elsewhere and DIY would have been a significant investment on our parts and they turned out amazing!

Amie handled all of our flowers beautifully, we were truly blown away at the job she did and her super sweet personality made planning with her so much fun, you can see every bit of her passion for what she does and it showed with how amazing every detail turned out.

Bradley the DJ was cute as a button and so sweet to work with, he kept everything going so well, played great music, really took our list and ran with it so it felt very our style. Also I'm forever grateful for the cocktails he snuck down to us while we were waiting to be announced, it saved all of our guests from a very nervous and awkward first dance!

The day of went wonderfully smooth with all of their help, they took over with everything and I was never wondering about the timeline and I could truly relax and enjoy our reception.

---Not to mention the building itself is absolutely breathtaking and we received the most wonderful compliments!

We had our wedding at the harris building this past weekend and everything was perfect! The staff was all very helpful, especially during the room switch from ceremony to reception. We were off taking pictures between & everything was set to go for intros right when we got back! The DJ Bradley was awesome & played all of the songs we requested! He was also very helpful keeping our timeline on track. From the very beginning of planning to the end of the night, everyone was so helpful & made this much less stressful. 12/10 would recommend the harris building! We cannot thank them enough!!!

Our wedding day at the Harris Building exceeded expectations beyond belief! The Harris Building gave us the most gorgeous wedding ceremony and reception all at one place. Providing us with an exceptional Event Coordinator made planning our wedding the most enjoyable experience with literally no stress! They covered everything from Valet, Tables, Chairs, Linens, DJ, Photography and Floral! Eight months later and our friends and family still rave about our wedding. We just cannot express enough how wonderful every single detail was. It truly was the best day of our lives!

Jeff Smoker & Tammy Brann

United as one to Mr. Jeff & Tammy Smoker August 4, 2018

The venue is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. We first saw it via zoom call because we don’t live in MI, but once we saw it in person we were so happy with our choice. It was exactly what we wanted. The Harris Team was great, very professional, and quick to respond to any questions. They really went above and beyond to make sure everything went perfect on our day. I don’t give them 5 stars because there was an issue with the DJ. We were told it was one person, whom we had spoken with and given our notes and playlists, and they switched the person for the wedding with no previous notice so we couldn’t talk to him. This all would have been fine if they had stuck to the notes made by the other DJ but it seemed the communication was not great. Just make sure the DJ you speak with its the one at the wedding and if not make sure you speak to them prior to the day. Other than that, like said everything else was absolutely perfect and I am so grateful to the Harris Team for helping and making sure our day was perfect !!